Missing Brooklyn Chicken Takes the F Train, Will Retire Upstate, Is Not a Chicken

August 24, 2011

Remember the lost chicken, found by kind soul Steve Chung on the mean streets of Brooklyn last week? Chung posted a notice on Craigslist in hopes of finding the chicken’s owner. Brownstoner wrote about that, and so did we. Then, Chung got in touch to tell us that some crazy stuff had happened. Did we want to hear? A chicken story with a twist? Oh, yes, please!

First, from the people are weird department: A Brooklyn woman got in touch with Chung, inquiring as to the chicken. “The first thing she says is, ‘Is this chicken stuffed or real?'” he told us. She was not joking. She went on to say that she’d had a party five days earlier with a bunch of strangers — and “I’m not crazy, I don’t usually have parties with random strangers, but the chicken was stolen and this chicken in the picture looks exactly like the stuffed chicken that got stolen.” (Has anyone heard from Bongo’s parents lately?)

Chung got off that call, having no desire to talk to a woman about her stolen stuffed chicken when he had a live one on his hands, and ended up in touch with Molly, a woman who has three hens housed in a chicken coop in her Brooklyn backyard and offered to make room for one more. Chung and his girlfriend went to her house and dropped off the chicken which, he said, seemed very happy. All was well! Or was it?

In the morning he got an email from Molly saying that, actually, the chicken was not a chicken! The chicken was, and is, in fact, a rooster. WHAT? Or, as Chung said, “It’s like the Crying Game!”

However did this come to be? Molly wrote to us,

As you know, I took pity on this wayward bird because it appeared to be a hen in the photo that Steve posted, and I’m a sucker for any story in which a Monty Python Killer Rabbit figures prominently. I figured I’d hold onto it in my coop with my Ladies until someone claimed it. That said, when Steve brought the “hen” over late on Thursday, it was stressed out and quiet. I gave it some chicken feed & water & it slept in a cat carrier filled with hay for the night.

Lady-killer.

It was not until Friday morning, when I took it out to the backyard at 6:30 am and it saw my hens for the first time that I realized what I was dealing with. This meek little bird became a puffed up, posturing testosterone-fueled madman and began to crow wildly. I realized that I had made a major mistake. In my defense, he doesn’t have his rooster plumage or an adult comb yet, so it was an easy mistake to make on my part. He’s a Brahma. They make nice pets, but they’re primarily raised for meat. This guy was definitely destined for somebody’s dinner table (another photo from my backyard — this guy has attitude).

Regardless of his ‘tude, Molly did not want the bird to become food (nor did Chung), and so, she reached out to rescue farms, shelters, and an animal organization, all without luck, until she found a guy named John who has a house upstate and a chicken coop. Molly told us, “John took the little guy with him on Sunday and he’s now safely installed upstate and looking for a farm home.”

Yep, so, this is pretty much our feel-good tale of the year.

Notably, the chicken rooster took the F train — to meet John in Manhattan for the handoff — like a champ.